Edmonton Israeli Apartheid Week 2012

January 20, 2012

Mark your calendars: the Fourth Annual Edmonton Israeli Apartheid Week will take place from March 5-13, 2012, featuring presentations, workshops, film screenings, and cultural events to raise awareness around the human rights situation in Palestine/Israel and to build support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli apartheid.

First launched in Toronto in 2005, Israeli Apartheid Week has grown to become one of the most important global events in the Palestine solidarity calendar. Last year, 97 cities around the world participated in the week’s activities.

A full schedule of events in Edmonton will be available soon. You can visit the global site for more information about Israeli Apartheid Week.

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Posted by psnedmonton

Palestinian BNC Statement on the Occupy Movement

October 18, 2011

The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) has released the following statement on the global Occupy Movement.

Occupy Wall Street not Palestine!
We are part of the world’s 99% yearning for freedom, justice and equal rights!

If a people one day wills to live fate must answer its call
And the night must fade and the chain must break
– Abou-Al-kacem El-Chebbi (Tunisia)

Occupied Palestine, October 13 -The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), the largest Palestinian civil society coalition struggling for Palestinian rights, is proud to stand in solidarity with the movements struggling for a new world based on democracy, human rights and economic justice. From New York to Athens, from Madrid to Santiago, from Bahrain to Rome, these huge mobilisations provide a much needed reminder of something that Palestinians have always known – that another world, a dignifying one, is possible and ordinary people can create it.
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Canada Clamps Down on Criticism of Israel

July 22, 2011

A great article by Jerusalem-based journalist Jillian Kestler-DAmours on the CPCCA final report and other Canadian support for Israel, which appears on Al Jazeera.

Canada clamps down on criticism of Israel
In an affront to free speech, government committee declares that criticism of Israel should be considered anti-Semitic.
Jillian Kestler-DAmours

Nearly two years after the first hearings were held in Ottawa, the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) released a detailed report on July 7 that found that anti-Semitism is on the rise in Canada, especially on university campuses.

While the CPCCA’s final report does contain some cases of real anti-Semitism, the committee has provided little evidence that anti-Semitism has actually increased in Canada in recent years. Instead, it has focused a disproportionate amount of effort and resources on what it calls a so-called “new anti-Semitism”: criticism of Israel.

Indeed, the real purpose of the CPCCA committee seems to be to stifle critiques of Israeli policy and disrupt pro-Palestinian solidarity organizing in Canada, including, most notably, Israeli Apartheid Week events. Many of the CPCCA’s findings, therefore, must be rejected as both an attack on freedom of speech and freedom of protest, and as recklessly undermining the fight against real instances of anti-Semitism.

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Posted by psnedmonton

Response to CPCCA Report by F4P Members

July 21, 2011

An opinion piece by members of Faculty for Palestine responding to the final report of the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA) appears in today’s National Post Full Comment.

Report on anti-Semitism seeks only to protect Israel
By Sue Ferguson, Mary-Jo Nadeau, Eric Shragge, Abby Lippman, Gary Kinsman and Reuben Roth

This month, a serious attack was made against free speech in Canada. A pseudo-parliamentary committee calling itself the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) issued a report calling on the federal government to adopt a definition of anti-Semitism that would criminalize criticism of the state of Israel. The report claims to support free speech and open debate around the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but its recommendations aim to silence pro-Palestinian voices, especially on campuses. The CPCCA’s biased processes and dubious conclusions contradict its own argument for balanced debate, and make a mockery of the notion of disinterested parliamentary inquiry.

The CPCCA was founded in 2009. While it included MPs from all parliamentary parties, the CPCCA is not an official parliamentary committee. It nonetheless draws upon the resources and authority of Parliament, while refusing to hold open debate in keeping with due process.

The CPCCA’s mandate was to define, analyze and address anti-Semitism. However, the coalition formed its core conclusions before beginning its inquiry. Its founding documents emphasized the so-called “new anti-Semitism,” associating it with the global movement for Palestinian human rights.

CPCCA materials published prior to the hearings cited campuses as places of special interest, but provided no substantive evidence. Later, the inquiry’s findings confirmed their biases through distorted claims that pro-Palestinian events create a campus environment ripe for anti-Semitism. Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), an annual program of public talks, films and workshops supporting the Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement, is singled out; it is depicted as an aggressive campaign that “hijack[s] any open and honest dialogue regarding the Middle East.”

The report conveniently overlooks IAW’s value as a site of global education on the plight of Palestinians living on, and in exile from, land that is illegally occupied by Israel. The participation of Jewish students and professors in IAW is systematically ignored. So is the fact that IAW organizers focus their analysis on a critique of the Israeli state, not Jewish people. That IAW explicitly condemns anti-Semitism and all racism is similarly neglected.

The report also dismisses the testimony of campus administrators who refuted the CPCCA’s preconceived notions. To be clear, the 25 university presidents or their representatives who spoke to the panel are no friends of pro-Palestinian organizers, having previously banned IAW posters, obstructed room bookings and otherwise tried to silence criticism of Israel on their campuses. And yet, their testimony consistently denied that the “new anti-Semitism” threatens their students. Instead, they suggested debate of difficult ideas should be encouraged at universities, not censored.

Most who seriously challenged the CPCCA were simply excluded from the so-called “public” hearings. Faculty for Palestine — a network of 450 faculty members from Canadian universities and colleges — for example, was not invited to discuss our written submission despite the CPCCA’s assertion that the “new anti-Semitism” is especially concentrated on campuses. Co-chair Mario Silva explained these exclusions as follows: “I personally feel I didn’t want to give a platform to individuals who had no time for us. Why should we have time for them?” It is no wonder that Bloc Québécois MPs withdrew from the CPCCA in 2010, citing the refusal of the steering committee to hear groups with opposing viewpoints, including from organizations such as the Canadian Arab Federation.

The CPCCA is fluent in doublespeak. The coalition urges critics to commit to serious and rigorous debate, but it avoids engaging in debate. It relies on hearsay, anecdotes and cherry-picked testimony while ignoring a wealth of research countering its claims. The report asserts that IAW should not be banned, but then asks university presidents to condemn IAW and calls on government to legislate this new criminalizing definition of anti-Semitism.

Faculty for Palestine is deeply concerned by the CPCCA’s analysis and recommendations — we think it should be treated with extreme skepticism. Its conflation of criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism is inaccurate and dangerous. Indeed, the Israeli state just announced unprecedented legislation banning boycotts. If Canada accepts the CPCCA’s recommendations, we may soon travel this same politically repressive road. A commitment to real dialogue on this complex conflict in the Middle East must win out over attempts to shut down debate and criminalize movements for social change.

The authors are members of Faculty for Palestine.

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Posted by psnedmonton

Suggested Voting in MEC Board Election 2011

March 16, 2011

For the past two weeks PSN supporters have been emailing the 10 candidates running for the Mountain Equipment Co-op board of directors to ask their position on ending MEC sourcing from Israeli companies, in line with the Palestinian-led call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS). We believe that having progressive candidates who are willing to consider ending MEC’s “partnerships” on the board is one important element in the Canada-wide campaign to get MEC to stop supporting occupation and apartheid by sourcing products from Israel.

We received responses from all 10 candidates, although numerous candidates used cut-and-paste responses, some of which were identical to those they used last year. Suggested voting and voting instructions are below.

SUGGESTED VOTING

PSN endorses and encourages you to vote only for candidate Dru Oja Jay.

One of Oja Jay’s planks specifically addresses the issue of social justice and MEC’s purchasing policy. We strongly encourage you to read the entire plank, but his own summary of his position is:

1. An ethical purchasing policy worthy of its name should not consider companies that benefit from war and occupation as ethical suppliers. I will work to change MEC’s policies to reflect this.

2. For member participation to be meaningful, it has to be based on informed, open debate accessible to all members.

In his plank, Dru states, “I propose that you can benefit from war and occupation, or you can be considered an ethical supplier, but not both.”

His position on the process in making the decision is as follows:

Speaking as a candidate for the board, I don’t believe that it is the role of board members to change MEC’s policy with regard to a single country. That kind of decision needs, minimally, the support of a plurality of the co-op’s three million members.

I also believe that it is entirely legitimate for co-op members to make political decisions of this type. Few disagree with boycotts of the deposed racist regime in South Africa today, but the anti-apartheid struggle at the time was hotly contested in a great many venues. (MEC’s minutes from the 1980s are not available, but it would be interesting to learn the history, particularly given the role of the international sports community in the boycott of Apartheid South Africa.)

As a board member, I would see it as my duty to ensure that the differing perspectives in the debate were accessible to all members, with a view to facilitating an informed decision in the event of a vote.

I do, however, believe that the board has a mandate from the membership to set high ethical standards for selecting suppliers.

We are also impressed by Oja Jay’s stated commitment to encouraging democratic participation of the membership of MEC. You can read his position on other issues on his campaign website.

Other Candidates

PSN does not think any other candidate has a sufficiently strong position on the issue of sourcing from Israel, but short summaries of the other candidate responses are as follows:

Gail Sullivan stated in her answer that “MEC must continue to actively research sources for MEC production that meets our members standards and share our corporate values” while admitting she needs more information on the issue.

Anders Ourum in his response stated “A policy that excluded products made in Israel or by Israeli companies, simply because they are Israeli, would make no sense.” He did say that “if elected, all I can say is that I’d be willing to support a look at this, and some informed discussion.”

Dominique Levesque responded “I will not take position on that kind of subject for now.”

Candidates Jonathan Gallo, Shauna Sylvestre, Shawn Mitchell, Blair Hammond, Bill Gibson and Morrie Schniderman all indicated they support MEC’s current sourcing policy.

VOTING INSTRUCTIONS

You can vote until March 31, 2011 (noon Pacific Time).

All MEC members 16 years of age or older who joined the Co-op on or before January 5, 2011 can vote for up to three candidates to fill vacancies on the board, but you can vote for less than three. We suggest you vote only for Dru Oja Jay.

Complete instructions are on the MEC election website.

You will need your membership number and a PIN, which you can get online.

You can vote online or by phone. Instructions on voting by phone are available here. Mail ballots are no longer available.

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Posted by psnedmonton

Action: Ask the 2011 MEC Board Candidates Their Position on Sourcing from Israel

March 4, 2011

The Palestine Solidarity Network-Edmonton is part of a cross-Canada effort calling on Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) to end its “partnerships” with Israel companies as part of the 2005 Palestinian-led call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).

Mountain Equipment Co-op currently sources 20 individual products from Israeli companies. These include products made by Source-Vagabond, an Israeli military contractor whose founder, Yoki Gill, and most its management are “experienced ex officers of elite IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) units.” MEC also partners with Israeli factories in the production of its “housebrand” line of seamless undergarments.

Despite this relationship, MEC claims that it maintains a policy of “ethical sourcing” with the headline question, “We believe business can advance human rights. What do you think?” on its company blog. On the same blog, MEC defends sourcing from Israel by saying, “In short, we will not take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” ignoring the fact that by continuing to source from Israel it is directly support apartheid against the Palestinians, which is anything but not taking a side.

We think that MEC should take a side against Israeli Apartheid. You can help.

From now until March 31, all MEC members can vote online to select who will represent them on the Board of Directors. PSN is asking all MEC members to email all 10 MEC board candidates to ask them their position on sourcing from Israel, and to only support those candidates who take the position of ending MEC’s relationship with Israel.

Step 1:

Cut and paste the following addresses into the BCC field of your email program:

candidate_gibson@mec.ca; candidate_sylvester@mec.ca; candidate_hammond@mec.ca; candidate_ourom@mec.ca; candidate_gallo@mec.ca; candidate_mitchell@mec.ca; candidate_levesque@mec.ca; candidate_jay@mec.ca; candidate_schneiderman@mec.ca; candidate_sullivan@mec.ca

Step 2:

Write a short and polite email asking the candidate to clarify their position on sourcing from Israel. These emails are more effective if you customize them, and can be as simple as writing, “I would like to know your position on ending sourcing of MEC products from Israel. Please email me your position on this important issue so that I can select candidates who I feel will live up to the ethical standards I believe are important to MEC.”

You can also point out in your own words:

- that you believe that continuing to source from Israel is not a way to take a neutral position in the conflict
- that you believe that sourcing from Israel is a violation of MEC’s stated commitment to ethical sourcing
- that you will only support candidates who advocate for ending MEC’s relationship with Israel
- that you expect a response from the candidate

Step 3:

Press send!

Please send any responses you get to your inquiry to mec.election.action@gmail.com so we can post the positions of the various candidates.

Step 4:

Be sure to vote online before March 31 at noon PST for the candidates who agree that MEC shouldn’t buy Israeli apartheid.

You can also take these actions to get MEC out of Israel:

* Do not buy products made in Israel at MEC

* Leaflet a MEC store

* Ask friends and relatives not to buy Israeli goods at MEC

* Whatever else you do, please write/fax/phone the CEO and board of MEC telling them of your actions and asking that MEC halt all dealings with Israeli companies. Please email the co-op’s CEO dLabistour@mec.ca and cc any emails to boycottapartheid@gmail.com

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Posted by psnedmonton

Event: Israeli Apartheid Week 2011 Full Schedule

February 25, 2011

THIRD ANNUAL EDMONTON ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK
MARCH 14-19, 2011

** ALL EVENTS FREE **

A week of presentations, workshops, film screenings, and cultural events to raise awareness around the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli apartheid. All IAW 2011 events are open to everyone, and are free of charge. We look forward to seeing you there!

Presented by Palestine Solidarity Network
Endorsed and supported by:
Alberta Public Interest Research Group (APIRG)
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East – U of A
Cinema Politica Edmonton
Edmonton Coalition Against War and Racism (ECAWAR)
Edmonton Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (EQuAIA)
Edmonton Small Press Association (ESPA)
Independent Jewish Voices (IJV)

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Posted by psnedmonton

The “Palestine Papers”: Grave Palestinian Concessions Met With Utter Israeli Rejectionism

February 17, 2011

February 17, 2011 statement issued by the BDS National Committee (BNC)

The “Palestine Papers”: Grave Palestinian concessions met with utter Israeli rejectionism

With revolutionary change across the Arab World eroding Israel’s power in the region, BDS has become a key strategy of the Palestinian people for a global struggle to hold Israel accountable and assert our inalienable rights under international law

Occupied Palestine, 17 February 2011 – The recent public exposure of a large number of documents related to the U.S.-sponsored “peace process” between Israel and Palestinian officials provides hard evidence, if any was needed, not only of readiness on the part of unrepresentative Palestinian “negotiators” to concede basic Palestinian rights, but also of Israel’s rejectionism and unwillingness to negotiate even an unjust and unsustainable peace. The leaked documents also reveal the arm-twisting employed by international “peace brokers” to compel – unelected — Palestinian officials to serve Israel’s expansionist and colonial agenda through the surrender of UN-sanctioned rights of the Palestinian people. It is now clearer than ever that the so-called negotiations were never based on principles of international law and human rights and never promoted just peace.
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Event: Edmonton Israeli Apartheid Week 2011

February 14, 2011

The Third Annual Edmonton Israeli Apartheid Week
March 14 – 18, 2011

A week of presentations, workshops, film screenings, and cultural events to raise awareness around the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli apartheid. All IAW 2011 events are open to everyone, and are free of charge. We look forward to seeing you there!

You can now check out the full schedule of events in Edmonton. For details of IAW events around the world, visit apartheidweek.org.

Presented by Palestine Solidarity Network, endorsed and supported by:
Alberta Public Interest Research Group (APIRG)
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East – U of A
Cinema Politica Edmonton
Edmonton Coalition Against War and Racism (ECAWAR)
Edmonton Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (EQuAIA)
Edmonton Small Press Association (ESPA)
Independent Jewish Voices (IJV)

If you are part of an organization, union, or collective that would like to endorse Edmonton IAW 2011, please email us at psnedmonton@gmail.com.

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Ahava and the Bay: a BDS Victory

January 31, 2011

An analysis for rabble.ca by Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) and Faculty 4 Palestine member Mary-Jo Nadeau on the meaning of the recent removal of Ahava products by the Hudson’s Bay Company and whether it should be considered a victory.

The Bay drops Ahava
A victory for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in Canada

This month, the Hudson Bay Company (HBC) have discontinued sales of Ahava cosmetic products. Ahava is an Israeli company that has been a target of the Palestinian campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

HBC was the main retailer in Canada that carries Ahava’s line, and has been targeted by a number of Palestine solidarity group over the past 18 months. Many participated in the campaign across the country, including Tadamon in Montreal, the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid in Toronto, with Canadians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East being the latest group to join in.

HBC’s decision was seen as a major BDS victory, and is being widely celebrated by BDS activists. After receiving a deluge of angry pro-Israeli e-mails and supportive pro-Palestinian e-mails, HBC partnered up with the Canada-Israeli Committee (CIC) to issue a joint statement announcing that the discontinuation of Ahava was a business decision, not a political one.

In addition to revealing that Ahava sales have been declining for some time, and admitting that it was not profitable to carry their products, HBC also affirmed their support for Israel and promised to launch a reformulated Ahava line the spring. Pro-Israel groups quickly declared victory and proclaimed that HBC made a business decision that had nothing to do with BDS.

A debate is now taking place within the BDS movement about whether the HBC decision is a victory. We believe that it is, and here’s why.

Ahava: a major international boycott target

In 2005, over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations endorsed a call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law. All Israeli companies profit from and contribute to Israeli apartheid and are therefore targets of the BDS campaign.

Ahava became a focus of BDS activists because of its particularly egregious role in the occupation of the West Bank. The company is majority-owned by two West Bank settlements, has manufacturing facilities in those settlements and its entire product line is manufactured from materials stolen from the Dead Sea, which is located in the occupied West Bank. Building settlements in and extracting resources from occupied territories is illegal under international law. Ahava’s entire operation is therefore in contravention of the Geneva Conventions. Companies that sell Ahava products are also in violation of international law.

HBC decision: Apolitical business decision or BDS victory?

The ultimate goal of the BDS campaign is to put economic and political pressure on Israel, but a key step in achieving this goal is education and raising awareness about Israeli apartheid. Every time a BDS story makes headlines, we achieve a victory because it engages the public in a debate about Israel, Palestine and the BDS campaign. When these debates happen, people around the world increasingly side with Palestinians precisely because the facts emerging from a 60-year history of Palestinian dispossession, displacement and ethnic cleansing by Israel are undeniable.

Moreover, the Ahava debate is taking place as we mark the two-year anniversary of Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s massacre in Gaza, which left over 1,400 Palestinians dead, over 5,000 injured and at least 6,000 homes destroyed or severely damaged. After five years of the growing BDS campaign and in the wake of atrocities like Cast Lead, the on-going siege on Gaza, home demolitions and the continued construction of the apartheid wall, the Israeli narrative is rapidly losing ground. The Zionist outcry about HBC’s decision shows their increasing fear of BDS.

Beyond their educational value, the purpose of consumer boycotts is to hit Israeli companies where it hurts — their bottom-line. By HBC’s own admission, Ahava sales have been declining for some time now. Ahava is reformulating and rebranding because their image has been so badly damaged by the BDS campaign. This is all good news — the BDS campaign is affecting this company’s profits.

Significantly, these declining sales have happened despite efforts by the CIC’s Buycott campaign, which has urged supporters to buy Israeli goods, including Ahava products. Their strategy is clearly failing to stop BDS and apparently is not even effective enough to keep Ahava profitable in Canada. This is more good news.

BDS and big business

The BDS campaign is not built on the naive assumption that corporations will drop Israeli products out of some moral imperative. HBC is Canada’s oldest corporation and has been profiting off of colonialism and genocide here in Canada for generations. We do not expect HBC or any other big business to take a courageous stand against Israeli apartheid. Our goal is to apply intense public pressure so that carrying Israeli goods ceases to be profitable. It will take time to build the kind of momentum needed to make that a reality, but we are well on our way. Ahava is no longer profitable to HBC and the BDS movement will continue to educate and agitate until this true of all Israeli goods sold in Canada.

Mary-Jo Nadeau is a member of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) and Faculty 4 Palestine.

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Posted by psnedmonton

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